The nation has experienced severe hailstorms that are occurring frequently, with greater intensity and affecting many areas of the country. Paid losses due to hail damage amounted to a sheer $10.4 billion in Texas only for the period 1999 to 2011, exceeding the amount of paid losses caused by water ($8.9 billion), fire ($5.9 billion), or hurricanes and tornados combined ($6.7 billion, respectively $3.1 billion) for the same period. The frequency of intense hailstorms occurring is on the rise in all states. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) reported in July 2013 that insurance claims resulting from hailstorm damage increased 84 percent in 2012 from their 2010 level.
A protective vehicle cover is an apparatus that is used to isolate the exterior surfaces of the vehicle from objects falling from the sky, blown by the wind or otherwise set in motion on a collision course with a vehicle; which, upon impact would damage the paint, dent body panels or break glass, or possibly cause similar damage to exposed accessories applied to the exterior of the vehicle. Such protective covers, when deployed, form a barrier or cushion between the surfaces of the vehicle to be protected and the elements and objects commonly found to be potential hazards to an uncovered vehicle.
There are several protective vehicle covers currently available; traditionally, people have used various techniques, including but not limited to, applying forced air into pockets underneath a fabric to form cushioning from falling objects, positioning foam stand-offs to support a fabric shield above the exterior surfaces to deflect falling objects, assembling frame based apparatus to form a cocoon around the vehicle, or using covers made from rigid impact resistant/absorbing materials to deflect and/or absorb the impact from falling objects. The traditional type of vehicle covers described above, sacrifice ease of use, effectiveness and affordability in direct proportion to the level of protection provided.
For example, a “Protective hail cover for vehicle” is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,881. This device comprises a shell and inflatable tubes, it is not easily deployed or removed due to efforts needed to inflate and deflate the tube with an air compressor pump or other means. Overtime and with multiple uses, air leaks can develop resulting in loss of effective protection from falling objects or increased maintenance costs to constantly repair the cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,074 describes a “Hail protective vehicle cover”. This device includes a sheet of cloth and several foam runners. The foam runners create the space between the top of the vehicle and the sheet of cloth which is intended to absorb the energy from falling objects. In reality, the tremendous impact of the large hailstones may still possibly reach the exterior surface of the vehicle due to the elasticity of the cloth and void spaces between the runners. This type of cover also occupies more storage space due to the rigid nature of the runners.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,644 “Foldable vehicle cover storable on vehicle”. This device may provide substantial level of protection to a vehicle, but its construction of using C-frame with protective fabric is relatively complex, and it consists of many working parts resulting in higher costs. Also, such an apparatus has the potential for increased maintenance costs and labor costs to deploy.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,206 “Automotive hail blanket” provides another inflatable vehicle cover. The air needed to fill the chambers is designed either coming from an air compressor or from a vehicle tire. Considerable time is obviously needed to inflate and deflate the device; especially if one person is attempting to deploy such a cover on many vehicles in the same area at the same time. In reality, it becomes impractical, especially if an automobile dealership has to deploy hundred's of covers in a short period of time during a sudden hail storm.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,648 “Hail protective shield” discloses a design of hail cover and therein multiple layers of shock-absorbing material is used for padding in additional to an outer layer of high density polyethylene material used as the covering. In theory, this device could provide a substantial protection to a vehicle, but the layers vinyl scrim, CCF foam, has to be thick and strong enough to adequately absorb the impact of hail falling at high speed. As a result, this structure increases the stiffness and the weight, thereby it is hard to store and deploy and lacks flexibility required to conform the fit of the cover to the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,439,644 “Hail cover for vehicle” presents a device for a cover on a vehicle. This device comprises an air blower, inner chambers and air pressure-relief outlet valves. It is inconvenient that the power supply is always needed when the device is in use, and ineffective where power is interrupted du to a severe hail storm occurring in the area.
Although there are several vehicle cover apparatuses which may have various functions, none of these either separately or in combination with each other, teach or anticipate the current invention. Therefore, there remains an unmet need in the field of vehicle hail proactive covers for a person to use to protect a vehicle which is durable, flexible for deployment and storage, and effective in preventing damage from objects falling onto or colliding with the vehicle during a severe hail storm. The current invention will fulfill this unmet need.